Not His Intentions
by Lucareeo
Summary: Shinsou never intended on making friends when he got into Class 1-A, but he ended up making them anyways. He also never thought he would fall in love with the class president but here he is, heart leaping and face flushing.


When Hitoshi Shinsou said he wasn't there to make friends, he had meant it. At least at the time. It was the truth – his purpose wasn't to make friends. He has to work harder than most of these students if he wanted to get to the level that they all were at. Shinsou needed to make up nearly an entire year of experience if he wanted to catch up and as a result his focus was on solely that. Making friends was… just a byproduct.

He was accepted into Class 1-A as the 21st student. While unorthodox, the school faculty found it would be irresponsible to not allow talent and drive like his to become a hero. Shinsou's quirk had possibility to help the world, and it was up to U.A to make sure they fostered and developed him to become the best that he could be.

That's all he truly wanted, to do good in the world and to face the evil plaguing their lives. Shinsou knew it was possible for him, the sheer qualities of his quirk could help so many and while he didn't originally have the resources to learn how to combat enemies, he had been coached by someone who had saw his potential.

His transition into Class 1-A was met with a welcoming aura. Various members of the class had already expressed their feelings to him which were met with good receptions. Even Ojirou who had originally distrusted him had given him a second chance and welcomed him into the class. Despite Shinsou maintain his cold demeanor, he secretly felt relieved that the others had accepted him as a fellow classmate. He had hardened himself, ready to face these classmates like opponents, but later he'd realize that value of cooperation. When you're on good terms with one another, it makes team efforts easier.

The class president was the one who gave Shinsou the biggest welcome. Originally, Shinsou thought the hospitable reception was just because Tenya Iida was fulfilling his class president duty; but Shinsou would find out later that this was just Iida was.

" _Hello! I am Tenya Iida, Class 1-A's representative! On behalf of everyone here I welcome you to the hero course! Please allow me to help you make your transition into the class fast and painless, if you need anything please do not be afraid to ask me!"_

Shinsou remembered the loud greeting a little bit too well as the class president had got a bit too close into his personal bubble and Iida's arms moved robotically upwards as he talked. It was definitely an interesting sight and Shinsou felt a pang of annoyance at how loud the outburst was.

" _Yeah, uh, thanks."_ Was his reply at the time, paying no mind and having no attention to asking Iida for anything. He could easily ask Aizawa-sensei if he had any questions, and again he wasn't big on the idea of making friends.

It was when Shinsou began moving into Class 1-A's area of Height Alliance did he realize that…oh. Tenya Iida is just like _that._ The blue-haired boy waited in front of the dormitory's building for Shinsou and his things, offering to help move them into his room.

While Shinsou was surprised at first, he felt the pride bubbling within him to reject his offer. It was only did he see the foldable cart behind Iida did he realize the class president had every intention to help him settle into his room and had actively prepared for it. Something in his heart had twitched - skip a beat.

With Iida's help the move went absolutely quick, probably cutting the original time in half. From then Shinsou had become a little more open to receiving help from the other students.

Eventually Shinsou did label a good amount of Class 1-A as his friends, much to his previous mindset's disapproval. It was a few months into their second year did Shinsou felt truly integrated into the class.

He was able to casually talk to the others, and now he sat in the common room with Midoriya and Tsuyu working on some of their math homework. Midoriya had offered to help him with the current chapter he felt uncertain about, and Shinsou was at the point where he stopped refusing other's help. Tsuyu had joined in as she was working on the homework as well and felt that working all together would make the assignment go quicker.

In the middle of the assignment, Iida and Shouji had came down the stairs in their gym uniforms. The first thing Shinsou noticed was that Iida had his gym top unzipped, a dark grey tank top exposing his collar. On his shoulder was a towel and he held a sports bottle in one of his hands. Shinsou had stopped writing to watch the two walk by. As the two students walk, Iida had noticed Shinsou's stare and offered a smile.

"Ah! Working on today's math assignment?" He greeted, Shinsou's face quickly turning back down, nodding gently.

"Hey Iida! Shouji! You two going to the gym?" Midoriya had asked.

Shouji nodded his appendage's mouth speaking for him. "It's leg day for me. I thought I'd ask Iida for some help considering it's leg day for him every day."

Midoriya had laughed but Shinsou did his best to not look at the class president's exposed calves. Oh yeah, it most definitely showed that Tenya Iida took leg day seriously. His quirk was mainly in his legs, so his calves were sculpted nicely into his extruded engines. Shinsou didn't realize that while he was eyeing the muscular flesh, Tsuyu had her eyes on _him._

"If you are all done with your math homework early, please feel free to join us! We'll be there for an hour or so." Iida had offered before the two muscular classmates had left to the gym. Shinsou sighed softly before looking back at his homework.

"You were looking at Iida's legs for a while, Shinsou." Tsuyu's voice broke the silence after the classmates had left, startling the purple-haired boy.

"What?" Shinsou replied as Midoriya had picked up his head to look at Tsuyu as well.

"You were sort of staring at his calves and spacing out, kero." She explained, her tongue peeking out of her mouth.

Shinsou cleared his throat before leaning against his palms. "I was just sort of thinking, man what if I had calves like that? Would it be heavy? How does he get his engines out? You know, quirk stuff." While that wasn't really the reason why he was staring, it was definitely something he had wondered before.

"I've asked myself that too!" Midoriya chimed in, taking out his hero notebook. "Back in first year I actually asked Iida how it feels and what he does in order to maintain his engines. Like actual exhaust pipes, if he overheats them during hot weather they'll start leaking liquid because of condensation and-"

While Tsuyu listened to Midoriya's rambles, Shinsou moved his focus back to homework, though he would be lying to say he wasn't actually incredibly interested in these little tidbits about Iida's quirk.

If there was any place Shinsou wouldn't expect to see Tenya Iida it would have to be around 2am in the common room's kitchen. Normally Shinsou preferred to stay in the comfort of his room during the nights, common practice for a student that suffered from insomnia.

He vaguely remembered Iida finding out about the condition early after Shinsou moved in and proposed various remedies. Since it was a byproduct of his quirk, a lot of it was useless. Still… he had appreciated the concern and attempted. Even if he didn't verbally say it.

When he entered the kitchen after feeling his stomach asking for a little night time snack, Shinsou nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw a tall figure in front of the open fridge door. His reaction wasn't nearly as extreme as Iida's when Shinsou cleared his throat, Iida jumping with a yelp. His head smacked against the fridge's top and he had fallen backwards holding the container of orange juice. Luckily it was closed, otherwise the taller boy would be soaked into sticky juices…

Shinsou couldn't help but laugh. Rarely did he laugh the way he did – it wasn't just a small chuckle or a scoff pretending to be a laugh, but a full-on shoulders shaking and knees bent laughter that echoed through the kitchen. Only when he remembered the time did he stifle himself with a mouth, but small giggles escaped through.

"S-Shinsou!" Iida hissed in a low, yet oddly loud whisper. He pulled himself onto his knees, face red with embarrassment. "Please! Control yourself! That was _not_ funny!" He huffed, though it didn't sound like a full on scolding.

Shinsou coughed and then cleared his throat, walking over to offer the other a hand. He smiled widely. "Sorry, class rep. I really wasn't trying to scare ya."

Iida looked up at Shinsou before adjusting his glasses, red eyes meeting purple before turning away. It was then did Iida pout his lips, turning his face in annoyance. Shinsou's heart skipped beats again, light from the fridge illuminated the pouty face, Iida's blue hair cascading shadows down his eyes.

The purple-haired boy couldn't help but feel his own cheeks warm – he swallowed hard.

While distracted, Iida slowly took Shinsou's hand and pulled himself up, placing the jug of orange juice onto the counter. Shinsou felt his face redden, thanking the darken kitchen to mask his blush.

"I'm uh, sorry I scared you." Shinsou spoke up. Iida let go of the other's hand, to Shinsou's quiet disappointment, before taking a deep breath.

"No, it's not your fault." Iida moved towards the entrance of the kitchen and turned the dimmer on, letting the lights brighten but not to its full extent. "Were you unable to sleep again?" He asked, moving to open a drawer and take out two glasses. Iida offered one to Shinsou who shrugged his shoulders, which usually meant yes.

As Iida poured the glasses, Shinsou moved to sit on the opposite counter.

"Yeah. Was gonna get some chips or something and maybe study or play video games." Shinsou took his glass of OJ with a short thank you.

"You really shouldn't be eating junk food so late at night, in the morning your stomach will be upset-"

"What about you you're drinking orange juice at like 2:34am." Iida's face flushed softly.

"That's different! Orange juice is good for you and is specifically a fuel for my quirk!" Iida retorted, folding his arms as Shinsou took a sip of the juice. He eyed the container, the handwritten label on it that read "FRESH ORANGE JUICE" and then the date it was made. Shinsou always admired that Iida would go out of his way to actually squeeze fresh oranges and make a container that was accessible to everyone in the class. To Iida's delight, a good amount of the class partakes in drinking the orange juice – just the thought of a happy, proud Iida made Shinsou's chest ached in that funny way.

As Iida took a swig of his orange juice, Shinsou fiddled with his fingers that were wrapped around his glass.

"So," Shinsou started, eyeing the other. "Do you usually wake up this late to drink orange juice?" He knew that the other would go to sleep around 10pm on the dot. If he stayed up any later it was apparent to everyone that Iida was not a man who _should_ stay up past 10 pm.

Iida placed his glass down but stayed oddly quiet. Shinsou's brow raised, noticing the difference in the air. He felt maybe he shouldn't have asked, but he was curious as to why Iida was here.

"I had a nightmare, that's all." Iida whispered gently, his eyes lidded.

Shinsou wasn't pleased with the answer. Normally Shinsou would leave it be, but there was an odd tugging feeling he felt in his chest that made him want to know what was wrong.

"Yikes. Did you, uh, want to talk about it?" He offered, hoping that he sounded sincere and not like an asshole. Iida offered a soft smile, though it didn't seem too genuine.

"I'm fine, it doesn't happen often." The answer _still_ didn't sit well with Shinsou. His phrasing was odd, and general ambience was off.

"It doesn't sound like you're fine. If you don't want to talk about it that's okay but you don't have to hide it. Remember when you helped calm me down after I failed one of the hero exercises? So like… I'm here to help you like you helped me." Shinsou's face flushed again, but he kept eye contact, purple locking with red.

Iida's lips parted gently, face surprised at Shinsou's sudden offer. He chuckled softly before softening, nodding his head. "I suppose it would only be fair to be honest with you. I'm sorry for trying to hide it, I should be more open to my classmates."

Shinsou slowly slid off the counter, Iida taking his orange juice again and motioned towards the couch. The tired-eyed student took his orange juice and headed towards the common room's longue, taking a seat.

Iida took a seat next to Shinsou before relaxing into the cushion. His head leaned back, eyes closing. Shinsou couldn't help but take a moment to watch the other's chiseled face. The way his nostrils flared to breathe in deeply, Iida exhaling from his mouth. Even in the darkness of the common room Shinsou was still able to trace the contour of Iida's face, admiring how his nose curved inwards, and his lips pursed.

"You weren't in the class around this time last year, but around the Sports Festival my brother had been attacked by the Hero Killer Stain," He began. Shinsou nodded, remembering around that time the hero Ingenium was put out of commission because of that attack. He remembered because he was confused as to why Iida wasn't present at the medal ceremony and finding out afterwards that his brother had been attacked.

"Only a few others in our class knows, but I went after him, Stain. I took my internship at Hosu in order to hunt him down. I was so blinded by rage, and if it wasn't for two others I would've been dead." Iida opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling. "When I was facing Stain, I had the confidence of a fool. He told me that I was no hero and that I was playing pretend. I still think about that." Iida continued before turning to Shinsou.

The boy could only listen, nodding gently as Iida continued on his story. He had absolutely no idea that Iida, their straight-forward and by-the-book class president would do something so…stupid. Reckless. Shinsou was stunned to say the least.

"Sometimes, usually around this time, I get nightmares from that day. I'm bleeding on the ground, paralyzed. He has his knives and he tells me this is what I deserve, that I'm no hero and a blemish on hero society. And I believe him."

Shinsou shot up afterwards, unsure on what he did as his body reacted on its own. Iida stared at Shinsou, surprised before the purple-haired boy moved in front of Iida and squatted.

"Hey you don't _really_ believe that right? That you're not a hero and that you deserve to die or whatever? He's a shitty villain that pretended to know who deserves to live and die." Shinsou crossed his arms over Iida's knees.

"Cause you're probably like, the most hero out of all of us here. You're our class president but you're sort of more than just that. You go out of your way to help everyone and put them before yourself which I sometimes think it's stupid but in a really nice way," Shinsou didn't know what he was saying until it came out of his mouth but he felt his emotions running high from the realization that Tenya Iida was not the perfect class president as he seemed.

He had his own demons and doubts, just like the rest of them. He had a past and expectations for himself that pressured him. Shinsou felt dumb for not realizing it before now and that no one had offered to help him while Iida was constantly offering his own assistance.

"So like, don't worry about it cause I think a lot of us think you're pretty great. Sort of naggy but if anything I think you're already a really great… hero." Shinsou felt his face rush again and be buried his head into Iida's lap. "Sorry that was cheesy." He mumbled.

Shinsou closed his eyes until he felt Iida's hand on his head, fingers combing through his purple locks. He looked up from the ground to see Iida's lips curved into a faint smile, tears forming in his eyes. Shinsou's own eyes widen as Iida wiped away those tears before they could fall.

"I think that's exactly what I needed to hear. We're all so busy with our training and studies, I felt it would've been a burden to talk to someone about these feelings." He explained quietly, offering his hand to Shinsou.

Slowly, Shinsou took his hand and stood up, moving back onto the couch next to Iida.

"Thank you Shinsou." Their hands stayed together, Iida smiling while Shinsou could only smirk back. His heart leapt once more.

"Yeah, no problem. So if you need a pep talk you can always talk to me. It may not be good pep talk but I'll try my best." It seemed that his attempt to reassure Iida had worked, actually had gone swimmingly.

Iida's hand slipped away and he got off the sofa, taking his glass of orange juice. His hand went up to rub at his eye.

"I'll take you up on that offer. And same to you. Please get some rest when you can." Iida headed towards the stairs before looking back at Shinsou once more.

"Thank you again, Shinsou." And then he disappeared up the stairs.

His heart continued to leap, bouncing around in his chest as he lied down on the sofa where Iida had once sat. Shinsou felt the world around him slow as he closed his eyes, grabbing onto the sofa cushion.

Not only was Iida a helpful enigma, but he had his own worries and secrets. Something about finding that out had solidified all these feelings swarming within Shinsou. He could confidently tell himself that yes… this man was someone he wanted to be close with. Iida was the person Shinsou wanted to become a hero for, if that even made sense.

He never had thought in a million years he'd have these friends in Class 1-A but never ever did he fathom that he would fall in love with the class president. It certainly wasn't his intentions, but Shinsou seemed to not have minded anymore that he was in love with Tenya Iida.


End file.
